Garden structures – hot tub installation

The closer your hot tub is to the house the more frequently it will be used. So if you’re planning this most extravagant and wonderful of household improvements, don’t make the mistake of setting it at the end of a draughty concrete path, because even if you think you can bear the journey out to the tub in bad weather, the idea of having to scurry back to the house once you’re all relaxed and toasty-warm is often too much to bear.

You may be able to install a tub on an existing deck but you need to remember that most decks – especially do it yourself ones - were not designed to support the weight of a filled hot tub and the advice of an engineer, plumber or builder is highly recommended before you make your decision, bearing in mind that a hot tub filled with water and people can weigh up to 5000 pounds!

There are several considerations before siting your tub, the most important being that it has to sit on a solid surface, preferably concrete. This is because, over time, everything settles and if a tub is set in gravel or on sand, it’s entirely possible that only one corner will settle – usually the corner that people get into the tub from, this puts stress on a single area of the tub and can cause leaks.

The overall height of the tub is also a consideration - you may want to sink the tub partially in the ground. To do this a special pit must be constructed. It requires retaining walls to keep dirt from eroding and coming into contact with the tub, and around twelve inches of clearance between the walls of the pit and the tub. A final consideration is that most tubs require a minimum of 24 inches of clearance all the way around their actual size for assembly and that any tub will have to be assembled above the pit and then lowered down.

Garden hot tub installation photograph by Phil Schatz, used under a creative commons attribution licence.

 

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